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Presidential Runoff Expected In Kenya

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Kenya is in the midst of counting votes - slowly - in its presidential election, which went off smoothly despite fears of political violence. So far the candidate who is the favorite to win is one of the richest men in Africa and a man who is also accused of crimes against humanity. NPR's Gregory Warner has this update from Nairobi.

CHOIR: (Singing in foreign language)

GREGORY WARNER, BYLINE: A 20-person choir opened up the second day of vote counting at the National Tallying Centre in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. But behind the scenes, lawyers from Kenya's political parties were doing the singing for their clients: candidates Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta, the current front-runner. The biggest issue is what to do about the more than 300,000 spoiled ballots. These are ballots that were thrown out for some reason or another. Election rules say a candidate must win by a clear majority or the race goes to a run-off next month. It's significant that the disputes have so far been fought with legal briefs instead of machetes. The postelection violence of 2007 and 2008 that killed more than 1,200 people was fueled by widespread allegations of vote rigging. If Uhuru Kenyatta is declared the winner, then will Kenya's minority tribes accept him? And will the international community accept him? Uhuru Kenyatta is due to appear before the International Criminal Court. He's accused of crimes against humanity for his role in the aftermath of the last presidential election in instigating a campaign of rape and murder against supporters of his opponent. Gregory Warner, NPR News, Nairobi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Gregory Warner is the host of NPR's Rough Translation, a podcast about how things we're talking about in the United States are being talked about in some other part of the world. Whether interviewing a Ukrainian debunker of Russian fake news, a Japanese apology broker navigating different cultural meanings of the word "sorry," or a German dating coach helping a Syrian refugee find love, Warner's storytelling approach takes us out of our echo chambers and leads us to question the way we talk about the world. Rough Translation has received the Lowell Thomas Award from the Overseas Press Club and a Scripps Howard Award.
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